pigeon breast

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. chicken breast.

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pigeon breast British  

noun

1. Also called: chicken breast.  a deformity of the chest characterized by an abnormal protrusion of the breastbone, caused by rickets or by obstructed breathing during infancy

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Other Word Forms

• pigeon-breasted adjective
• pigeon-breastedness noun

Etymology

Origin of pigeon breast

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

“I always do everything first,” Alva boasted, sounding like an over-caffeinated Edith Wharton grande dame, thumping her pigeon breast.

From Washington Post • Sep. 23, 2021

The entrepreneur worked up gourmet recipes for the committee to taste — smoked pigeon breast, pigeon soup — and the meetings became makeshift dinner parties.

From New York Times • Mar. 6, 2015

A dish of pigeon breast has a dry crust.

From The Guardian • May 19, 2013

At last, we had run out of seafood options, so Nancy chose the wild pigeon breast, small disks of meat wrapped in Parma ham.

From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2010

He was a meagre little fellow, with a long neck and a white face and sunken cheeks, a pigeon breast, and a big stomach.

From A Book of Ghosts by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)